Armor & Mobility

SEP-OCT 2016

Military magazines in the United States and Canada, covering Armor and Mobility, focuses on tactical vehicles, C4ISR, Special Operations Forces, latest soldier equipment, shelters, and key DoD programs

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COMMANDER'S CORNER
We work hard to ensure our team is the best educated, trained and
aware workforce to anticipate problems and deliver readiness to the
Army anywhere our Army goes. When you call with a problem, expect
follow up from the TACOM team. If you don't get follow up, call me.
Communications from the field is the most important thing TACOM
needs! Your feedback is key -- not everything will go perfectly every
time. With nearly 65 percent of all equipment in the Army supported
by TACOM, we will run into issues from time to time. I assure you
the TACOM team will do everything it can to get answers and deliver
results.
A&M: From a sustainment perspective, please speak to ways TACOM
is addressing key Joint tactical platform life cycles and minimizing
challenges associated with them.
MG LeMasters: For systems and capabilities under development, TACOM
is fully integrated with our supported PEOs and their subordinate
Program, Project and Product Managers. This team will ensure
thoroughly planned and resourced systems are fielded to the Army, and
where appropriate, to Joint Forces.
For fielded systems, the TACOM Integrated Logistics Support Center,
the PEOs, Defense Logistics Agency, and Army Contracting Command
work as an integrated team to provide units across the Army a wide
range of support. We find solutions for long lead time repair parts and
provide sustainment-level repair teams from our depots and arsenals.
We share systemic equipment problems and provide necessary train-
ing. TACOM will also analyze Army readiness issues and provide the
appropriate guidance in the form of Ground Precautionary Messages,
Maintenance Advisory Messages or Safety of Use Messages. Find your
nearest TACOM LAR and ask for help!
Here are a few examples of how the TACOM team has dealt with
readiness issues. A few years ago, the Army started experiencing prob-
lems with Bradley Fighting Vehicle Urban Survival Kit (BUSK) hull bat-
teries and the Digital Vehicle Distribution Box (DVDB). Average monthly
demands spiked for hull batteries over a three-year period by 14 times
the normal rate, while DVDB demands doubled. Research and analyses
by TACOM equipment specialists, Original Equipment Manufacturers and
item managers determined that improper slave starting of the Bradley
Fighting Vehicles caused power surges within the electrical and power
distribution system that induced premature DVDB fail-
ures. Improvements in BUSK hull batteries testing
procedures, coupled with packaging and handling of
batteries to avoid terminal damage reduced consump-
tion and increased their reliability service life. TACOM
provided this information to all our LARs to begin unit-
level training and released to the field a Maintenance
Information Message that clarified Bradley slaving and
battery maintenance practices.
TACOM LARs worked closely with U.S. Army Europe
to develop the Stryker Common Chassis Program of
Instruction to train unit mechanics on troubleshooting,
repairing and maintaining the Stryker platform. The
course provided MOS 91S and 91B system maintain-
ers the fundamental skills beyond advanced individual
training to perform diagnostic troubleshooting, mal-
function isolation and corrective action on the Stryker
platforms. This training has been widely regarded
as the hallmark of excellence and continues to yield
improvements in fleet readiness in USAREUR.
In response to SOUM 15-002 regarding a cease fire of M109A6 Pala-
dins due to corrosion in the bore evacuator holes of the M284 Cannon
Tube, TACOM LARs partnered with the Field Artillery Product Integration
Directorate and the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering
Command to field 23 two-person inspection teams to conduct visual
inspections of 100 percent of the 544 fielded M109A6 Paladins in the
active Army and Army National Guard. The forward positioning of the
LAR workforce coupled with the close unit working relationships expe-
dited the completion of the inspections and subsequent repair to the
fleet.
These are just a few of the ways the TACOM team has addressed
tactical platform readiness and support issues throughout their fielded
life cycles.
A&M: In terms of how TACOM is modernizing to stay relevant, please
speak to ways the command is facilitating improvements to legacy and
implementing newer technology-driven solutions.
MG LeMasters: TACOM's principal role is to support Army systems
that are fielded to the tactical formations. As technology or threats
change, Army equipment may need to be modernized. PEOs
develop modernization programs; for example, the next incremental
improvements known as Equipment Change Proposals are in the
works for M1A2, Bradley M2A3/M3A3 and the Paladin Integrated
Management program. These proposed improvements are developed,
approved by the Army leadership and executed with the TACOM team
fully engaged with the PEO/PM.
Like the system hardware, the sustainment system and concept
of support is also modified. This is done by a total team effort, where
new support requirements are developed that range from repair parts
contracts; modifying or updating repair, overhaul and RESET capabili-
ties at our organic depots; and working with equipment manufacturers
and the PEO/PMs to develop a Materiel Fielding Plan. The TACOM
Field Support Operations Directorate's Materiel Fielding Team will
execute nearly all new Materiel fielding training across the Army. New
equipment training will be delivered; TACOM LARs and SCRs would
support units and provide additional support after fielding, and most
importantly, provide the direct link for readiness issues from the using
unit to TACOM and the PEO/PMs.
Anniston Army Depot (ANAD), part of TACOM, conducts work side-by-side with General Dynamics Land
Systems employees on Stryker combat vehicles in the installation's Combat Vehicle Repair Facility.
The Stryker combat vehicles are repaired and overhauled through a partnership between the two
organizations. (Army)
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12 | Armor & Mobility September/October 2016